USING THE NAME “ALLAAH ” - (Part 2)

A REFLECTION AND RESPONSE TO ISSUES ON ISLAMIC DA’WAH, CHRISTIAN EVANGELISM, INTER-FAITH DIALOGUE, CONTEXTUAL USE OF ISLAMIC TERM, APOSTASY, REFUTING ALLEGATIONS AND CLARIFICATION ON PREVAILING MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ISLAM AND IT’S APPROACHES ON DA’WAH

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Question:

“I am referring to the recent controversy (May 2008) in Malaysia regarding the request by the Catholic Church, for their use of the term ‘Allah’ in their translation of the Bible and other religious tracts for their congregation (in Bahasa Malaysia) and the objection of the Malaysian Islamic Authorities. The court there has now allowed the matter to be forwarded for a judicial review in the civil court.

My question for you is: ‘Does Islam have any objection for others of different faith from using this term? If it does object, (it seem obvious for most people to interpret from the Malaysian case that imply that only Muslims can use the name Allah), why is this so? And if Islam does not object to this, how would you then explain the basis for their objection? Are they wrong? Or perhaps there are other plausible explanations to this issue which may not have been considered."

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CONTINUATION ....................................................

• 3.0 Da’wah and inter-faith dialogue

Inter-faith dialogue is only of a recent trend (perhaps at the close of the last millennium), especially to avert what some people thought of as the imminent clash of civilizations. So too is the Catholic Church’s program in the west of “Muslim-Christian Understanding”- inspired perhaps by the call for reformation by II Vatican Council (1965). As compared to these initiatives, to “call or invite” (Da’wah) has been the mission of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and the Muslims, since 1400 years ago. Even when others were not interested to have a dialogue, the Prophet s.a.w. had initiated contact and open platform for peaceful dialogue – by way of this invitation, the call or “da’wah.” Subsequent generations of Muslims brought this message and carry the task of da’wah (invite or call) to every known community in the world, out of the concern for every people to know the truth. It was a sincere calling, “the sincere advice” - for that was precisely what the Prophet s.a.w. refers to this (Deen) religion as, (Al-dee-nu al-naseeHah) as reported by Imam Bukhary and Muslim, from companion Tamim ad-Daa-ry r.a.

عن أبـي رقــيـة تمـيم بن الـداري رضي الله عنه ، أن النبي صلى الله عـليه وسـلم قـال : الـديـن النصيحة

This noble mission in the early period was very successful which saw the spread of Islam and its civilization which benefitted much the then known world, stretching from Spain to China. Then the call (Da’wah) by Muslims which entail mutual peaceful dialogue (re: Qur’an:16:125), as an invitation to seek after Truth to follow the path of God for all, especially the West stagnated after having shared a shining civilization in Spain, when they were forcefully evicted. Generally this invitation towards Christendom and the West were totally ignored, and was met even with hostility. Instead of intellectual civil engagement, Christendom responded with the Crusades, followed by Imperialism, and their colonization of many third world countries which was always accompanied by the Church’s evangelical agenda. The Western powers and the Church were more concerned about expanding empires and spreading the Gospel rather than to have dialogue with anyone. Christians do not deny of their plan to evangelize all in the known world, especially to the Muslims. Even today, when they no longer rule the colonies, they openly declare their intention to still continue in their Joshua Project.

Making no success with Muslims, they laid edifice of Orientalists’ agenda that seek firstly to doing extensive research on Islam, infuse their understanding and reinterpretation of it, and then re-teach this version of ‘Islam’ to the Muslims, albeit with their many distortions and bias misconceptions. This was to augment the limitations of secular education system which they had introduced in Muslim countries but which they knew, could not totally eradicate Muslim reliance on studying Islam from traditional Islamic sources. For an ordinary Muslim with a good basic knowledge of Islam would indeed be hard for their evangelists. All the while, the West and Christendom were not interested to have dialogue with the Muslims. In fact, despite them having ruled over Muslim countries for so long, many of their people generally do not even have a fair understanding of Islam whilst misunderstanding of it amongst them still persist.

As for the Muslims, when they were living under Western colonial rule, they had to face subtle indoctrination through the education system that excluded the teaching of Islam. Still Muslims had to organize and also provide for their own Islamic education outside state control. However, this dual education (state and religious) of Muslims could not be sustained leading to the diminishing participation in the religious education. The number and quality of Muslims dedicated towards teaching and carrying the work of Da’wah suffered. The missionary zeal and spirit for Da’wah took a reversal. The actual meaning of Da’wah for Muslims become reduced to efforts at only reforming Muslims (Islah), the calling (Da’wah) if any were directed only towards Muslims. Later generation of Muslims being deprived and were further removed from knowing their faith, tradition and culture, even adequate knowledge of their own history was absent or rather replaced with history of other nations, and thereby diminishing their sense of dignity in being Muslim. Some even were ashamed at their own Islamic traditions or to speak about Islam to others. Muslim thinking and activity Islamic, became insular and inward looking amongst Muslims.

Actual Da’wah (meant to invite all who is not yet a Muslim) seemed to be neglected. A few that bravely faced the challenge to address the non-Muslims were rare. Some were misunderstood, even by those Muslims who, while having no understanding of Da’wah also suffer from such low self-esteem, which made them apologetic or even inimical towards traditional approach to Islamic Da’wah, and were more interested just to be modern to ‘fit in with the time’ rather than be seen as being ‘religious and confrontational’. The zeal to share Islam with others (non-Muslims) was almost non-existent amongst Muslims. Islamic works, especially Da’wah, were not well regarded and neglected in most Muslim countries – except perhaps by those in the West where this has to be carried out to retain semblance of Islam, which is usually link to survival of their ethnic identity, and that too by a few brave souls. There in the West, because Muslim had to face non-Muslims, while living in amongst the Western cultural milieu, they had to do Da’wah, to address and invite non-Muslims too. There were few successes there but generally, the West had simply ignored Islam. There was actually no dialogue but rather more of monologue.

Then a change occurred, dictated by happenings in the West and the political forces there with its agenda for world hegemony. Islam and Muslims were forced into the limelight; made to be world actors to replace the vacuum left by the “Red terror,” the demon of the Cold-war era. “Terrorism” and the “Islamic threat”, become buzzwords and the world was made to fear the imminent clash of civilizations. The “Red” threat has now been changed to “Green.” Although the word ‘civilizations’ is used, yet we cannot help but conclude that what is touted, especially in media is: “Islam versus the West, Islam versus the rest”. To avert the clash, well meaning academicians and activists in the West saw the need for mutual understandings between them and the Muslims. This was when initiatives for inter-faith dialogue were offered. The Catholic Church’s and western Orientalists programs on Islam became conveniently relevant and popular. Muslims today may be persuaded to be involved in this inter-faith dialogue, whereas they should be reminded to return and pick up the banner of Da’wah which already incorporates inter-faith exchanges. Some naively thought that inter-faith dialogue is Da’wah, whereas these are in fact initiatives intended to replace Da’wah. So if these Muslims wish to participate in this inter-faith dialogue, we do not discourage them but they must be there for doing Da’wah. They must know the principles, approaches and objectives of Da’wah.

Some Muslims may scoff at this clarification, but such attitude coming from those Muslims who do not have had the privilege to know Islam from traditional sources would be understandable. But it must be accepted, even by them, that Da’wah is a prophetic trust, “amanah” and to insist that it is similar to this inter-faith dialogue is a flawed opinion, and therefore should not be left uncorrected. Their knowledge on Islam has to be looked into first before giving any weight to their cynicism. And for those intending to seriously engage in this work, amongst the additional sciences which they have to be equipped with or rely upon Islamic scholars (who are competent) especially are in knowledge relevant to Islamic Da’wah (e.g. “Usul ad-Da’wah”, “Fiqhud-Da’wah”, “Muqaa-rana al-Adyaan”, “Seerah of the Prophet s.a.w.” and the extensive knowledge of the “(Tarikh) History of Islam and Muslim world up to contemporary”, etc.). We Muslims should well heed Allah’s warnings:

وَلَن تَرۡضَىٰ عَنكَ ٱلۡيَہُودُ وَلَا ٱلنَّصَـٰرَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَہُمۡ‌ۗ قُلۡ إِنَّ هُدَى ٱللَّهِ هُوَ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ‌ۗ وَلَٮِٕنِ ٱتَّبَعۡتَ أَهۡوَآءَهُم بَعۡدَ ٱلَّذِى جَآءَكَ مِنَ ٱلۡعِلۡمِ‌ۙ مَا لَكَ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ مِن وَلِىٍّ۬ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ

Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: "The Guidance of Allah that is the (only) Guidance." Wert thou to follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath reached thee, then wouldst thou find neither protector nor Helper against Allah.

(Qur’an: al-Baqarah: 2: 120)

After so long in ignoring Islam’s invitation to dialogue and to now suddenly proposing it themselves, this should raise some concern or at least curiosity from Muslims. Are they now agreeable to a real dialogue in response to our call? It is wise to heed the caution that if we are not mindful, the concerns that ought to be raised by Islam from the perspective of Da’wah will be ignored totally, replaced with a different concern, different agenda and objective. It is obvious that inter-faith dialogue which they propose is not a platform for seeking truth any more, but merely to foster show of solidarity amongst the various religions. Inter-faith dialogue may have different names or theme, e.g. “Building Bridges of Understanding”, “Inter-religious forum”, “Religious Harmony circle” etc. Already some amongst them dictate that: dialogue must be non-confrontational; must only seek commonality and set aside difference; must be inclusive not exclusive; must adopt the definition of tolerance as (one of them said in a session): “it is to accept difference in others without judging them or saying that others are wrong, because judgement is only for God to make”; “all religion are seeking after the same God therefore every religion are equally true; forget about proselytizing, etc.” These fallacious reasoning (which can be easily refuted), were introduced to serve only as diversions from Muslims doing Da’wah. Whereas, the issues we wish to have dialogue with them, are relevant if we sincerely strive to seek Truth, and these were already raised 1400 years old, but purposely ignored, not even a mention let alone response. (Please refer below for some of these):

يَـٰٓأَهۡلَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبِ قَدۡ جَآءَڪُمۡ رَسُولُنَا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمۡ ڪَثِيرً۬ا مِّمَّا ڪُنتُمۡ تُخۡفُونَ مِنَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبِ وَيَعۡفُواْ عَن ڪَثِيرٍ۬‌ۚ قَدۡ جَآءَڪُم مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ نُورٌ۬ وَڪِتَـٰبٌ۬ مُّبِينٌ۬ يَهۡدِى بِهِ ٱللَّهُ مَنِ ٱتَّبَعَ رِضۡوَٲنَهُ ۥ سُبُلَ ٱلسَّلَـٰمِ وَيُخۡرِجُهُم مِّنَ ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ إِلَى ٱلنُّورِ بِإِذۡنِهِۦ وَيَهۡدِيهِمۡ إِلَىٰ صِرَٲطٍ۬ مُّسۡتَقِيم

“O People of the Book (Scripture)! There has now come to you Our Messenger, revealing to you much that you used to hide in the Book and passing over much (that you regard as unnecessary): there has come to you from Allah (God) a (new) light and a perspicuous Book wherewith Allah guides all who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace and safety, and leads them out of darkness, by His Will, unto the light – guides them to a Path that is Straight.”

(Qur’an: al- Maa-’idah: 5: 15-16)

قُلۡ يَـٰٓأَهۡلَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبِ لَا تَغۡلُواْ فِى دِينِڪُمۡ غَيۡرَ ٱلۡحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوٓاْ أَهۡوَآءَ قَوۡمٍ۬ قَدۡ ضَلُّواْ مِن قَبۡلُ وَأَضَلُّواْ ڪَثِيرً۬ا وَضَلُّواْ عَن سَوَآءِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ

“Say: ‘O People of the Book (Scripture)! Exceed not in your religion the bounds (of what is proper), trespassing beyond the Truth, nor follow the vain desires of people who went wrong in times gone by – who misled many, and strayed (themselves from the even Way.”

(Qur’an: al- Maa-’idah: 5 : 77)

لَقَدۡ ڪَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓاْ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلۡمَسِيحُ ٱبۡنُ مَرۡيَمَ‌ وَقَالَ ٱلۡمَسِيحُ يَـٰبَنِىٓ إِسۡرَٲٓءِيلَ ٱعۡبُدُواْ ٱللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبَّڪُمۖۡ إِنَّهُ ۥ مَن يُشۡرِكۡ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدۡ حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيۡهِ ٱلۡجَنَّةَ وَمَأۡوَٮٰهُ ٱلنَّارُ‌ۖ وَمَا لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ مِنۡ أَنصَارٍ۬

“They do blaspheme who say ‘God is Christ the son of Mary.’ But said Christ: ‘O Children of Israel! Worship Allah (the One God), my Lord and your Lord.’ Whoever joins other as gods with Allah (God) – Allah will forbid him the Garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will be, for the wrongdoers, no one to help.”

(Qur’an: al- Maa-’idah: 5: 72)

يَـٰٓأَهۡلَ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبِ لِمَ تَلۡبِسُونَ ٱلۡحَقَّ بِٱلۡبَـٰطِلِ وَتَكۡتُمُونَ ٱلۡحَقَّ وَأَنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ

“O Ye People of the Book (Scripture)! Why do ye clothe truth with falsehood, and conceal the Truth while ye have knowledge?”

(Qur’an: Ali-‘Imran: 3: 71)

قُلۡ يَـٰٓأَهۡلَ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبِ تَعَالَوۡاْ إِلَىٰ ڪَلِمَةٍ۬ سَوَآءِۭ بَيۡنَنَا وَبَيۡنَكُمۡ أَلَّا نَعۡبُدَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهَ وَلَا نُشۡرِكَ بِهِۦ شَيۡـًٔ۬ا وَلَا يَتَّخِذَ بَعۡضُنَا بَعۡضًا أَرۡبَابً۬ا مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۚ فَإِن تَوَلَّوۡاْ فَقُولُواْ ٱشۡهَدُواْ بِأَنَّا مُسۡلِمُونَ

Say: O People of the Scripture! Come to a common word between us and you: that we shall worship none but God (Allah), and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God (Allah). And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they whohave surrendered (unto Him).

(Qur’an: Aal ‘Imran 3:64)

These are some of the messages, in fact containing serious charges which require answers. Rightfully, Muslim deserves a response from Christians to their invitation (call) to discuss on these issues which have been conveyed from God and still being recited in the Qur’an, - even though belated – before moving on to some other man-made agenda. Or at least get a firm commitment that they will address these issues. Going by some of the “ground rules” that some of them had already insisted for inter-faith dialogue, it is as though such issues raised in the Qur’an would be swept under the rug. If we Muslims ourselves, agree to ignore these issues which are in fact commandments by Allah s.w.t. for us Muslims to tell them, to engage them on (therefore it is Allah’s and His Prophet’s agenda s.a.w) then we would be betraying a trust. Without doing this how can these dialogues be considered as Da’wah? Some Muslims may question: “why must we sound confrontational? I thought Islam too advocate tolerance, why can’t we show it here?” etc. The simple answer is as I have stated, “Da’wah is a divine trust, a prophetic legacy” its ways and approaches are already well defined. Allah s.w.t. even reminds us that we must be:

“sincere in our religion even though unbelievers may not like it”

(مُخۡلِصِينَ لَهُ ٱلدِّينَ وَلَوۡ كَرِهَ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرُونَ) (Q: 40: 14).

It saddens me when such discouraging expression comes from even Muslims themselves, for it only indicate perhaps that they were never told regarding this. Perhaps there is confusion or misunderstanding in their minds. So allow me now to respond to, what I presume may be misconceptions which these Muslims may have regarding Da’wah.

• TO BE CONTINUED.......................

(4.0 Dispelling some misunderstanding about Da’wah:)

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